Her Billionaire Heartthrob - Kaylee Baldwin Page 0,42

completely.”

“I don’t even know what I’d do if I didn’t do this.”

“Then maybe, brother, it’s time you figure that out.” Xander placed a firm hand on Liam’s shoulder and used it to help him stand.

“Hey, Viola sent Callie a text,” he said before he left.

Liam looked up, hope leaping in his chest.

“She made it home safe.”

“Okay, good.” Liam hadn’t known what he wanted Xander to say about the text, but he’d hoped for more. A message for him, a reason for leaving that didn’t have to do with him ignoring her for work again.

“She’s worth it.” Xander patted Liam’s shoulder a couple of times and then walked back toward the hotel.

Liam sat on the bench for a long time after Xander left, thinking.

It was getting closer to Christmas. People walked by with bags full of toys and clothes, holiday decorations and treats.

Would he spend it alone again, in a hotel somewhere in the world, treating it like just another work day?

A girl, maybe eight or nine years old, walked by hugging a doll tight to her chest. It was a doll with long, brown hair and rosy cheeks, and it looked like the doll at the theater in Eureka Springs.

Homesickness like he’d never felt before rose up in him. And longing—for Viola, for a life that seemed impossible to have.

What was he doing with his life, really?

He knew what he wanted. To be with Viola. To have color, laughter, and even waxy chocolate. To have a home, to not roam for once, to not have twelve-hundred-plus emails waiting for him back in his room.

For the first time in as long as he could remember, he wanted to set the bicycles down, heal, and rest.

What if he did what Xander suggested? Walked away? He let his mind wander down that dangerous path, knowing he might never be able to bring himself back, and an idea began to form. An idea so far-fetched that it probably wasn’t even possible.

But what if it was? What if he stopped putting himself in the box of other people’s expectations and did what he wanted to do?

Excitement at the thought of endless possibilities raced through him, yet there was one possibility he wanted more than any of the rest.

He was going home to Eureka Springs.

But first, there was someone in New York City he needed to talk to immediately.

Chapter 19

Viola took the long route to work to avoid the theater, even though she still needed to finish the job. Once, one of her favorite buildings, and now it was hard to even look at.

It had been two weeks since she’d come home from New York. Two weeks of trying to build a wall to keep Liam out. Two weeks of daily texts from him making it harder and harder to do.

The first text had been simple. She’d seen it after she woke up on the morning she’d gotten home. She’d arrived so exhausted, both mentally and physically, that all she could do was fall into bed, promising her grandma she’d explain everything later.

Two little words had glowed from her phone screen. I’m sorry.

“Not enough,” she’d muttered, placing her phone face down on her bed and falling back asleep.

Day two, another text came. She was more rested but still restless with energy she couldn’t shake, and his latest text certainly hadn’t helped things. I miss you.

Day three, she was almost afraid to look at her phone when it lit up. She’d been sitting in her office, researching her big job starting in January, and the words felt like a punch in the stomach. It read, New York isn’t the same without you.

He was still there. They were supposed to fly home yesterday. She knew for a fact that Callie and Xander had, because she’d met Callie for lunch—once she’d made Callie promise to not even mention Liam’s name. He wasn’t coming back. She rested her cheek on her desk, her heart not in the work anymore.

But every day, another text came. And despite herself, Viola felt a surge of excitement at every new buzz of her phone. Was this how Liam felt with his work calls? If so, it was no wonder he lunged to check his phone every time it went off.

Then, a week ago, exactly one week after getting home from New York, little gifts started showing up on her doorstep. A gorgeous arrangement of bright yellow, pink, and orange dahlias, a note folded and taped to the side of the planter. She and her